Weber State basketball should not overlook 1-20 Southern Utah team tonight

Friday , March 28, 2014 - 12:15 PM

Roy Burton, Standard-Examiner Staff

CEDAR CITY -- The Thunderbirds are as dangerous as a 1-20 team can be.

Southern Utah doesn't have a Division I win yet, and no one wants to be the first.

First-place Weber State will roll into Cedar City tonight at 7 p.m. for a Big Sky battle, and if the last meeting is an indication, it will be a battle.

SUU sent the Wildcats (13-7, 10-2 Big Sky) to the free throw lines 43 times as the Wildcats clawed out a 65-59 victory on Jan. 18 in Ogden.

The T-birds (1-20, 0-12) were losing by scores like 91-55 and 77-49 and 70-36 early on in league play, but since playing the Wildcats, they've lost by only single digits in six of their last seven games.

"They're playing with a lot of confidence," WSU coach Randy Rahe said. "Coach (Nick) Robinson has done an outstanding job with that team. They play like a 12-0 team, not a whatever-their-record-is team, and that's a credit to coach Robinson and those kids."

Southern Utah's nearest miss was a 54-52 loss at Montana State on Feb. 1.

"The smallest things have happened to them," Rahe said. "A turnover here, a missed free throw here. They're about one possession, maybe two possessions away from maybe winning three or four or their last five games ... one or two possessions away from being on very much of a hot streak."

Contact reporter Roy Burton at rburton@standard.net. Follow him on Twitter at @RoyBurtonSE.